STATE FOREST LOGGING IN NSW AND BIODIVERSITY

For years many conservationists and scientists have been concerned about State Forests in NSW and the detrimental effect poor management has had on biodiversity and the natural landscape in general.  Forest Corporation, the body responsible for the management of our publicly-owned forests, has been criticised for mismanagement and for flagrant breaches of the weak regulations which are supposed to govern its operations.

Earlier this month NEFA (North East Forest Alliance) campaigner Dailan Pugh published a report on why public native forests in north-east NSW should be protected. 

He said that Forest Corporation was not just running down log volumes but was responsible for increased erosion which is depleting soils and polluting waters.  Other problems from its management include reduced streamflows following regrowth, increased weed growth because of frequent disturbances, and more wildfires.  So the survival of forest species is being increasingly threatened.

The native fauna dependent on these forests are severely impacted as our forests are degraded.  Fewer big trees and recruitment trees are being retained.  Mr Pugh points out that the bigger trees have the most nectar for browsing and stability for nesting and roosting and do not develop hollows in their branches and trunks until they are over 120 years old.  Seventy species (28%) of vertebrates in north-east NSW rely on tree hollows for dens, nests and roosts.  Hollows for the larger of these species will not develop until trees are over 220 years old.

He said, “Animals that rely on the resources provided by older trees are becoming increasingly endangered as their foods and homes are lost, populations decline and social systems collapse.  Other species reliant upon specialised understorey habitats or reliable stream flows are being similarly affected.”

While the biodiversity crisis in NSW extends across the broad landscape – that is, not just in State Forests – it is being made much worse by the continuation of unsustainable logging in our public native forests.

Demands to phase out native forest logging in NSW will grow until the government follows the Victorian and Western Australian lead.

-        Leonie Blain

Published in the "Voices for the Earth" column in The Clarence Valley Independent  22nd March 2023.

 

FIRE LOSSES MUST BE PROPERLY ACCOUNTED FOR - NEFA

 The North East Forest Alliance  (NEFA) is calling for an immediate 10% reduction in wood supply commitments to north-coast sawmillers from public forests because of the widespread death of trees due to the Black Summer bushfires, and a freeze on any new commitments until sufficient plots are sampled to accurately quantify remaining timber volumes.

The Forestry Corporation report 2019-20 Wildfires - NSW coastal hardwood forests sustainable yield review undertakes a preliminary desktop review of the likely impacts of the Black Summer wildfires on timber resources.

The Forestry Corporation estimate is that there has been a significant loss of trees across at least a third of the north coast’s State Forests (north from Gosford), with a loss of 10-50% of large sawlog sized trees over 30 cm diameter at breast height, and 50-100% of smaller trees, according to NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh.

“The worst affected stands were those logged in the previous 4 years where over 90% of trees were killed.

“Overall, across the north coast State Forests, the Forestry Corporation estimate there has been a loss of around 10% of sawlogs and 25% of smaller trees. North from Coffs Harbour these losses increase to 15% of sawlogs and 35% of smaller trees.

“It is bewildering how the Forestry Corporation can conclude from this data that there will only be a 4% reduction in high quality sawlogs from the north coast over the next decade.

“It appears the NSW Government intends to rely upon this simplistic review to sign new Wood Supply Agreements to replace the current 20 year agreements due to expire in 2023.

“What is most perplexing is that the Forestry Corporation did not remeasure any of their 659 field plots within the heavily burnt forests to obtain real data on impacts so that they can more accurately quantify impacts and future yields.

“The last two times the NSW Government gave sawmill owners guarantees for specific timber volumes in 1998 and 2003 they were found to be gross over-estimates and it cost NSW taxpayers over $12 million to buy back non-existent timber we gave to sawmillers for free. 

“At the very least the Government owes taxpayers a full and proper assessment of the bushfire impacts before they consider repeating past mistakes.

“Though with bushfires and droughts increasing as climate heating accelerates, it is time we stopped logging public forests to increase their resilience and maximise their carbon storage” Mr. Pugh said.

 -  North East Forest Alliance MEDIA RELEASE, March 31 2021.

NEFA CALLS ON ENVIRONMENT MINISTER KEAN TO "STUMP UP"

Recently the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) called on the NSW Environment Minister to take action to protect important koala habitat from further logging and to ensure that the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) prosecutes the Forestry Corporation for their breaching of logging rules.

NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh reminded the Minister that on July 26 he said  he wanted  to see Koala populations doubled by 2050, stating “Koalas are the most iconic example of our mismanagement of the environment and we’ve got to say 'enough is enough'."

On July 18 the EPA imposed a Stop Work Order over 3 compartments in Wild Cattle Creek State Forest near Cascade on the Dorrigo plateau , 9 days after they found the Forestry Corporation had illegally logged 2 giant trees.

 

A brief audit by NEFA on the afternoon of 28 July 2020 found a further 12 breaches of the logging rules.  This consisted of  2 more felled giant trees, with reckless damage to 4 giant hollow-bearing trees and 6 Koala feed trees.

Mr Pugh said, "The felled giant trees were around 1.5 metres diameter, and the giant hollow bearing trees damaged by logging machinery driving over their roots and bashing their trunks were 1.5 to 2 metres diameter."

"These massive awe-inspiring trees are the height of 10 storey buildings and 300-500 years old. They provide the large hollows that many of our iconic animals depend upon for dens and nests. They predate European settlement of Australia, yet the Forestry Corporation are recklessly felling and damaging them. This has to be stopped.

"These forests have also been identified as being outstanding Koala habitat. In 2017 the Office of Environment and Heritage identified the logging area as part of the largest cluster of resident Koala populations (Koala Hubs) on the Dorrigo Plateau, and last year the Department of Planning Industry and Environment identified it for protection as part of a greatly reduced Great Koala National Park to "provide a feasible and strategic balance between increasing protections for koalas, while minimising impact to forestry operations".

"The pitiful 10 Koala feed trees per hectare the Forestry Corporation are required to retain in this forest are only 40% of the number recommended by the Expert Fauna Panel and the EPA, and even these they are recklessly and carelessly damaged.

"While it is important that the Forestry Corporation are prosecuted for their flagrant breaches of the new logging rules, if Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Environment Minister Matt Kean are fair dinkum about reversing the decline of Koalas the first thing they need to do is stop logging their homes and feed trees.

"Premier enough is enough. Time to stump up Minister Kean," Mr. Pugh said.

Blue Gum stump with 149.5 cm diameter at stump height.

 

 

 

 

 

Giant Blue Gum left where it had been felled

For more information see  NEFA's .Wild Cattle Creek Brief Audit

INCREASED THREAT TO KOALA SURVIVAL IN NSW STATE FORESTS

Both the North Coast Environment Council (NCEC) and the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) are very concerned about the survival of Koalas on the North Coast.  They regard the intensification of logging in State Forests with core koala habitat as a major threat.

The two conservation groups believe the current problem stemmed from the Forestry Corporation’s “grossly inflated resource estimates”. This led in 1998 to the signing of contracts which could not be fulfilled because there were insufficient saw logs to meet them.  As a result NSW taxpayers have been forced to pay at least $13 million in compensation to logging companies.

This is bad enough but another result of the poor decision about the availability of the sawlog resource is that logging has been intensified in North Coast State Forests.

NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said, “Our analysis shows that of the 6,000 records of Koalas in State Forests in north-east NSW, 92% of them are in the 57% of forests proposed to be zoned for intensified logging, with the highest koala densities in the 140,000 ha of State Forests proposed to be zoned to allow virtual clearfelling.”

Mr Pugh pointed out that a 2014 study  by C McAlpine et al has shown that koala populations on the North Coast have crashed by 50% and that this situation is one of the costs of logging.

The NSW Government is currently negotiating new wood supply contracts which they intend to finalise by the middle of this year – even though most of the existing contracts do not expire until 2023.

This is yet another concern. Susie Russell, NCEC spokesperson, says that we cannot afford more of the same.  “New timber contracts covering core koala habitat will signal the end for NSW Koalas.  If the people of NSW want Koalas to exist in the wild, then our Government will have to stop giving their feed trees and homes to the loggers.  It’s pretty simple really.”

They have called on the Premier to ensure that logging in North Coast forests is not intensified and that habitat needed by Koalas will be excluded from logging.

            -Leonie Blain

This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on May 22, 2017.